◎A Sudden Turn◎

Zhou Tan remained seated where he was, giving Peng Yue only a nod in greeting—the two of them held equal rank, so this was not considered discourteous.

He rose after a few more moments and stepped closer, studying Yan Wuping, who knelt before the hall. Yan Wuping, sensing his gaze, looked back at him without the slightest hint of evasion.

That gaze was cold as frost. Peng Yue paused, then suddenly asked, “Who are you?”

“Has my lord forgotten? This lowly one is surnamed Yan, given name Wuping, a native of the south. In the fourteenth year of Yongning, I followed you to the capital, and ever since I have managed your dock business for you. Last year, through your kindness, I was placed at the Court of Judicial Review.” Yan Wuping gave a soft laugh. “Lord Peng, I have done many unspeakable things for you, and I have always been utterly loyal to you—why did you have to silence me?”

Zhou Tan gave a light cough from his seat, signaling He San beside him to take Yan Wuping’s petition and begin reading it aloud. Yan Wuping produced a damaged iron token of the Court of Judicial Review from within her robes and presented it respectfully. “My lord, here is my evidence. I took this from the arsonist’s body the day I escaped death. Every iron token at the Court of Judicial Review carries a serial number—one check will confirm it.”

The Ministry guards accepted the evidence as procedure required, then sent someone to summon the witnesses. Peng Yue, however, still said nothing, only staring fixedly at Yan Wuping. “Have you and I met before?”

In his memory, Yan Wuping had always been shrewd, capable, meek, and obedient—never once had she looked at him with such an expression.

Such a sharp, piercing gaze. He was certain he had seen it somewhere before.

The crowd below, growing bored, waited for the summoned witnesses, who were slow to arrive. Bo Ying tugged at Qu You’s sleeve, asking anxiously, “Could something have gone wrong?”

Qu You shook her head. “If something happened to the witnesses right now, how could Peng Yue possibly escape blame? He wouldn’t do something so foolish.”

A sudden commotion stirred among the crowd that had gathered before the Ministry. Qu You looked outward and saw a plainly dressed man in cotton and linen robes cutting through the crowd, walking straight up to the hall.

She found the man’s face somewhat familiar, though she couldn’t place him—not until she saw the color drain from Zhou Tan’s face, and she suddenly realized she must have seen this man at the hall on the day of her own wedding.

Could it be… the young man from the Ren family who had come to escort the groom?

But what was he doing here?

Zhou Tan looked up, his face suddenly pale, and demanded angrily, “This is a Ministry public trial—no one uninvolved may enter the hall! Who let him in?”

Ren Shiming showed not the slightest fear, cupping his hands lazily in a bow toward the hall. He looked mild and harmless at first glance, but the moment he laid eyes on Zhou Tan, a cold, mocking edge crept into his expression. “May I ask, my lord—how can you open a public trial when you haven’t even confirmed the identity of the one who beat the drum?”

Before Qu You could recover from her surprise, Ren Shiming tossed down the property deed and register in his hands, turned back toward the courtyard beyond, and called out, “This drummer, the so-called Yan, is plainly a woman! In the thirteenth year of Yongning, she sold herself into the Spring Breeze Pavilion here in the capital. Her registration there was thoroughly destroyed, but a slip was made when her identity was forged and her household registration recreated. The old, discarded contract is here now, in my hand. This Yan woman has deceived this court, staged this drumming for effect—what punishment does that deserve?”

The old, worn contract fluttered down lightly. Even Yan Wuping herself froze in shock. Beneath his sleeve, Zhou Tan’s fingernails nearly broke the skin of his palm; it was a long while before he rose to his feet.

Qu You saw a triumphant smile spread across Ren Shiming’s face.

Yan Wuping was taken away by Ministry guards to have her identity “verified,” and the public trial was suspended for the time being. The crowd scattered like startled birds. Qu You flashed the Ministry iron token Zhou Tan had given her when she’d changed clothes, and slipped into the Ministry through the front courtyard.

She headed toward the study Zhou Tan frequented and happened to run into Ren Shiming coming out of the back hall. The two crossed paths; Ren Shiming did not recognize her. Behind him, Qu You heard a furious shout, almost beyond restraint: “Ren Yuechu!”

Ren Shiming paused a step, then simply gave a scornful laugh and walked away without looking back.

Qu You jogged the rest of the way to the back hall and found Zhou Tan standing at the doorway, seemingly a little out of breath. He showed no surprise at seeing her, only explaining, somewhat wearily, “Back when I recreated Wuping’s household registration, I was still living at the Ren family estate. Yuechu asked me about it, and I told him I was helping a woman of pitiable circumstances escape her registered status. That boy has always been sharp-minded—he worked it out. The old papers left at the house were never fully cleared away. That was my carelessness.”

Qu You said, “It’s been so long—there’s no need to blame yourself.”

Zhou Tan’s lashes trembled; he shook his head. “Yuechu isn’t a bad person at heart. He shouldn’t have ended up like this… falling in with someone like Peng Yue. That, too, is because of me…”

He didn’t go on. Qu You looked down and saw he was gripping tightly at the forearm where he’d once been injured. She hastily changed the subject. “The public trial failed today—do you have another plan?”

Zhou Tan straightened, then gave a cold laugh. “It’s fine. I never expected the public trial to succeed in the first place. Without convening the Three Judicial Offices together, how could anyone possibly try the Chief Minister of the Court of Judicial Review?”

Qu You’s brow furrowed, then quickly smoothed. “Article Forty-two of Book Three on drum petitions—if the Ministry’s public trial cannot resolve a case, the petitioner may beat the Passage Drum to cry injustice directly to the throne.”

Zhou Tan glanced at her, an eyebrow rising slightly.

“You’ve memorized the code quite thoroughly.”

Ransoming Yan Wuping out of the Spring Breeze Pavilion, forging her registration, delivering her into Peng Yue’s sight, earning his trust, gathering evidence.

Finding Gu Xianghui, willing to give her life for the cause, engineering a case that would become known throughout the capital, striking the Ministry’s drum precisely on cue—Zhou Tan had known from the start that he could not win this case through the public trial, yet he had opened it anyway, purely to pave the way for Yan Wuping to beat the Passage Drum.

To bring down one man, Peng Yue, he had spent two full years laying the groundwork, weaving a plan of countless threads, advancing step by careful step. Only now did Qu You understand why he had needed her to go negotiate with Boss Ai—it was so that, throughout this entire affair, he could keep himself entirely clean of it.

Even after the Passage Drum sounded and the Three Judicial Offices convened, if the investigation traced things back to Boss Ai, at most it would implicate her, disguised as she was as a man. Everyone already knew she and Zhou Tan did not get along—so as long as she explained she had acted entirely on her own, there would be no need for Zhou Tan to recuse himself from suspicion.

He could even use the coincidence of having personally witnessed Gu Xianghui’s testimony to his advantage—she suspected now that from the very start, his wish to draw her into this scheme had partly been meant to provide him cover, right here.

Such careful scheming. Such deep calculation.

Had it not been for Ren Shiming charging in unexpectedly, catching even Zhou Tan off guard, there should have been no slip at all.

Qu You pressed her lips together and asked, “Now that Yan Wuping’s identity as a woman has been unexpectedly exposed, who will you have beat the Passage Drum?”

Zhou Tan answered simply, “There will always be someone. I have my ways.”

The Yin dynasty’s code had a special provision for drum petitions—quite interesting, really. When the dynasty was first founded, it followed the old system, and neither the Ministry’s court drum nor the Passage Drum had any restrictions. But so many people came to cry injustice that restrictions eventually had to be introduced.

Beating the Ministry’s drum already came with numerous conditions. The Passage Drum, which carried a plea straight to the Emperor’s ears, was even less something one could casually strike. Finding someone more suitable than Yan Wuping would be no easy task.

Zhou Tan did not see her off. Qu You left the front courtyard alone, and Zhi Ling, arriving belatedly, ran toward her with tears in her eyes—she had already heard that Yan Wuping’s identity had been exposed. “Master Qu, we were delayed on the road—what shall we do now? Master Yan said that once the Passage Drum sounded, we could finally submit those grievances…”

Qu You reached to wipe her tears, then suddenly remembered she was not currently dressed as a man and could not do so appropriately. She handed over a handkerchief instead. Zhi Ling had just taken it when she noticed Qu You had suddenly frozen, staring at something behind her. “Master?”

The folding screen in the back hall was covered edge to edge with writing. Zhou Tan had glanced at it, lost in thought for a moment, still standing where he was, when he saw Qu You, in her dark teal robes, come running back, breathless, her face still faintly damp with sweat, making her small face seem to glow.

“You want someone to beat the Passage Drum. As it happens, there’s no one better suited than the person standing right here.”

Zhou Tan felt something in his chest sink heavily. “Who?”

Qu You gazed steadily at him, a fire in her eyes that he knew all too well—and that unsettled him all the same.

“Me.”